387 - Why We Need Better (and More!) Masks Before the Next Pandemic
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 22 October 2021
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
At this point in the pandemic, what do we need to know about masks? Dr. Amesh Adalja from the Center for Health Security talks with Stephanie Desmon about a new report, "Masks and Respirators for the 21st Century: Policy Changes Needed to Save Lives and Prevent Societal Disruption." They talk about which masks are best for day-to-day use and why innovation is necessary to develop masks that are comfortable and wearable. They also talk about HOW to overcome supply chain issues and why it's critical to start solving these problems now before the next infectious disease outbreak. Read the report here: https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/publications/masks-and-respirators-for-the-21st-century
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Season 4 of Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. |
| 0:13.0 | I'm Josh Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement, and a former Commissioner of Health in Baltimore City. |
| 0:20.0 | Our goal is to bring |
| 0:21.7 | scientific evidence and experience to current topics in public health through engaging interviews |
| 0:27.1 | with scientists, community leaders, policy experts, public health officials, clinicians, and more. |
| 0:32.8 | If you have ideas or questions for us to cover, please email us at public health question at jhhhu.edu. |
| 0:40.4 | That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:46.3 | Hi, I'm Lindsay Smith-Rogers, producer of Public Health On Call. Today, the topic is masks. |
| 0:52.2 | Are we wearing the right ones? Should we toss our cloth masks? How do we create better masks for future pandemics? How do we shore up the supply chain? Stephanie Desmond discusses this and more with Amish Adalgia of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Let's listen. Amish Adelja, thanks so much for joining me. |
| 1:09.5 | Thanks for having me. I want to talk today about |
| 1:11.9 | masks. So a lot of us have been wearing cloth masks since soon after the pandemic began. And recently, |
| 1:19.0 | I was reminded that there are supposed to be a stopgat measure because of supply chain problems. |
| 1:23.7 | And maybe we should be wearing better masks. So what should we be wearing? |
| 1:28.2 | Right now it really depends upon the setting and people's risk tolerance |
| 1:31.3 | because many people now are fully vaccinated and that's going to give them a lot of protection, |
| 1:37.1 | the best protection that they can have. |
| 1:38.8 | So that means that for fully vaccinated people, |
| 1:41.1 | there are certain limited situations where you might need to wear a mask. |
| 1:44.5 | And that's going to be based on your risk factors for severe disease and how likely the |
| 1:49.9 | exposure risk is in a given area. So maybe if you're in a high risk indoor setting and you're |
| 1:53.9 | somebody that wants to avoid a breakthrough at all costs, you would think about wearing a mask. |
| 1:58.5 | And in general, what I recommend people wear, because they're in |
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